Vermont § 2750 - Harvesting guidelines and procurement standards

§ 2750. Harvesting guidelines and procurement standards

• (a) The Commissioner of Forests, Parks and Recreation (the Commissioner) shall develop
  voluntary harvesting guidelines that may be used by private landowners to help ensure
  long-term forest health and sustainability. The Commissioner may also recommend monitoring
  regimes as part of these guidelines. In developing these guidelines, the Commissioner
  shall: (1) provide widespread public notice of the process to develop the guidelines; (2) provide opportunities for potentially affected individuals, business organizations,
  and members of the public to submit recommendations on the specific content of the
  guidelines prior to their development and to comment on a draft of the guidelines
  once the draft is developed; (3) hold one or more public meetings; and (4) maintain a web page concerning the development of these guidelines that provides notice
  of all opportunities for public comment and all public meetings on the guidelines
  and posts relevant information and the documents submitted to and created by the Department
  of Forests, Parks and Recreation as part of the process. (b) For contracts to harvest wood products on State lands, the Commissioner shall ensure
  all such harvests are consistent with the purpose of the guidelines developed under
  subsection (a) of this section, with the objective being long-term forest health and
  sustainability in addition to other management objectives. (c) The Commissioner shall develop a procurement standard that shall be used by all State
  agencies and departments in procuring wood products from whole-tree harvests in Vermont.
  The procurement standard shall include specifications on the retention of live and
  dead trees. (d) The procurement standard developed under this section shall be made available to Vermont
  educational institutions and other users of wood products for their voluntary use. (e) Working with regional governmental organizations such as the New England Governors’
  Conference, Inc. and the Coalition of Northeastern Governors, the Commissioner shall
  seek to develop and implement regional voluntary harvesting guidelines and a model
  procurement standard that can be implemented regionwide, consistent with the application
  of the guidelines and standards developed under this section. (Added 2011, No. 170 (Adj. Sess.), § 16a, eff. May 18, 2012; amended 2013, No. 24, § 1, eff. May 13, 2013.)